How to Become A Sneakerhead
The importance of the Discourse and what it takes to become part of such an exclusive community
Introduction
As a child, I experienced my primary Discourse that pushed me into the secondary Discourse of becoming a Sneakerhead. The Sneakerhead community is developed by those of whom all enjoy the idea of collecting shoes, selling them, and meeting new people that all have the same knowledge about shoes as you do, sometimes even more knowledge. The Discourse isn’t necessarily a hobby, but can become a full time job that pays very well, and that is what sparked my interest in joining the community. Most believe that being a Sneakerhead is all about buying shoes to have a form of “swag” or appearance.. In order to even get involved, you have to form apprenticeships with someone that already belongs to the Discourse. Fiano, the author of “Primary Discourse and Expressive Oral Language in a Kindergarten Student” and Gee whose studies focus on discourse, discuss the essentials of transferring discourses and the seven building tasks necessary to become part of the community. The primary Discourse is our
Sneakerheads collect shoes from all sorts of brands. Some are only brand loyal to Nike and Nike’s designer basketball shoes “Air Jordans”. There are also many others that collect shoes such as Gucci and other high end shoes to express their wealth. The Sneakerhead community involves levels of power based off size of collection and the value of the shoes you own. We as a culture within the discourse began to create new branches to the idea of a Sneakerhead by introducing quantity over quality and brand names changing the way one can be a Sneakerhead. A person in the community can attend all these events called Sneaker conventions and see the latest shoes and upcoming releases which are known as exclusives. We have a language of our own within the community that most others will not understand until they are apprentices or accepted into the community. The best way to being your journey to becoming a Sneakerhead is to use www.kicksonfire.com and www.sneakernews.com in order to develop knowledge of everything you need to understand.
Identifying What Discourse a Sneakerhead is:
A Sneakerhead is a secondary Discourse because
“after our initial socialization in our home community, each of us interact with various non-home based social institutions- institutions in the public sphere, beyond the family immediate kin and peer group” (Gee 8).
To become a Sneakerhead, you must develop the knowledge pertaining to what the secondary Discourse has to offer. A Sneakerhead has to understand all the language that comes with the secondary Discourse. The language is complicated, and all relates to the idea behind a shoe, and ways to describe the appearance and the value. Terms such as colorway,which refers to the color pattern on the shoes and the different designs, were created by people in the Sneakerhead community. Within the Discourse, you have to have power, prestige, money, and dominance.
Nondominant vs Dominant Discourse
Understanding the fact that one must obtain all these features pertaining the Discourse allows us to understand that it is a Dominant Discourse as well as a Nondominant Discourse. A Dominant Discourse is when one masters the Discourse,
“at a particular place and time, and brings with it the (potential) acquisitions of social “goods” such as money, prestige, status, etc.”(Gee 8).
Sneakerheads express their wealth and power through their collections of shoes. The more shoes one has, the more status they acquire. Status is a key component in the Sneakerhead community, leading one to be more powerful and successful when trying to sell shoes or present a custom you created. Customs are colorways and designs you create and develop on a model of a shoe to advance the new terminology you are creating in the community. Along with the status you develop, you also can being to earn money from the ability of customizing and repairing. Sneakerhead is also nondominant, because unlike Gee, who believes a nondominant Discourse cannot have prestige, I think being a Sneakerhead is an exemption to his rule. Sneakerheads are a nondominant Discourse as well because one can gain social status and form tighter bonds with people in the Discourse. Websites like Kixify (artifact 2) supply the people in the Discourse a form of an online store where one can buy and sell shoes, providing a starting point for the nondominant part of the Discourse. People within the Discourse gain social status and form bonds with their customers, gaining them stars and higher ratings.
Reasons Behind Joining the Discourse of Sneakerheads
Sneakerheads join the Discourse to make money and express their artistic ability customizing shoes for customers. In order to make money, you must understand the value of each shoes as well as the popularity. KicksonFire.com is a souce where one can discover the values of shoes that are coming out in the year. Some shoes are worth a lot more than others, such as Nike Yeezys compared to pair of white Retro One Air Jordans. This is where one begins to be tested by individuals in the Sneakerhead community. There are many key components to properly restoring a shoe that everyone in the community fully understands. If one doesn’t understand how to properly treat a shoe, it will prove they do not belong. You are also tested on the way you price a pair of shoes and the way you rate their conditions. People within the community understand the terms deadstock, which means brand new, and the rating system out of ten for a pair of shoes. If you don’t belong to the community, you would have no idea of what deadstock means, or how the system works. People that are caught trying to fake their way into the Discourse are put on blast by members of the community, ultimately preventing you from having the ability to join again. The tests are designed to
“ test the fluency of the dominant Discourses in which their power is symbolized” (Gee 8).
To prevent from failing the tests, it is important to understand artifacts that can guide you to becoming a member of the community.
Apprenticeships in the Sneakerhead Community
The most important way to entering the Sneakerhead community is an apprenticeship. An apprenticeship is the “enculturation into the Sneakerhead community through scaffolded and supported interaction with people who have already mastered the Discourse. Once you find a person that mastered being a Sneakerhead, their is the knowledge that comes with watching the practice. The master will have the knowledge to making a profit in the community and showing you what you can and cannot do when trying to make a sale and pricing the shoe. The master guides you through the Discourse, where you can begin your own path as a Sneakerhead and meeting new customers. The apprenticeship gives you “connects” starting you off with people that can provide shoes to you that are difficult to obtain. Once you get these shoes the room for profit come into play. There are ways to upmark the price of the shoes and still be seen as a valid seller. Once you begin to make the sales, your role in being apprenticed begins to fade, and you are seen as a master of the Discourse. The most important part to selling the shoes is assuring that they are priced properly. Value guides such as Sneakernews, can provide you with the valuing guide based off the rarity of the shoes. The more popular the shoe, the more sales you will get.
Websites to Help you Advance in the Discourse
There are two websites that I used to start off my path to becoming a Sneakerhead, as well as taking part in an apprenticeship with someone that understands the community in and out. KicksonFire.com and sneakernews.com both are mainstream websites that provided much needed information to the people within the Sneakerhead community. The websites have some of the seven building tasks that are necessary to join the Discourse, which was presented by Fiano. The seven building tasks are significance, practices, identities, relationships, politics, connections, and sign systems. KicksonFire.com introduces the significance of the newest shoe releases and provides information on what the resell value will be of the shoes once released. The information is significant to the Sneakerhead community due to the need to understand what a shoes value will be and when they are planned to come out. The information is very valuable and advance the profit for the resellers within the community. By advancing your knowledge of the value, you will be able to maximize profit and your status in the Discourse.
KicksonFire
The website provides the second task, practice, as well. The practice in the discourse is the tips provided by KOF to clean your shoes and learn how to repaint them as well. Practicing the recommendations provided by the website will help you keep your shoes looking brand new, as well restore older shoes that have lost their value due to wear and tear. The website also provides you the identity of how to dress and form the appearance of looking like you belong to the community. The identity teaches you how to also talk and form the language of the Sneakerhead community. KicksonFire provides you with information such as, “The Air Jordan Future was the one of the kicks that defined 2014. With so much hype prior to release, the Future was designed to bridge the gap between what Jordan was once known for — quality basketball products inspired by the greatest to ever play the game”(kicksonfire.com) allowing readers to understand the language and what a pair of shoes is capable and not capable of. KicksonFire.com helps form relationships within the Sneakerhead community, through their ebay like online personal shoe store called KIXIFY. People have the ability to buy and sell shoes on the website and find out the latest events where people can meet others and buy their shoes at a large convention. The relationships often grow into continuous business that helps you earn more money and get steals from people that need to move specific items. Building these relationships is crucial in the Sneakerhead community. The relationships form the connections needed to sustain your name in the community. The connections are based off the amount of sales you have paired with a good reputation. People like “Mrlooselace” from the website is a good example of what kind of seller to be seeing he or she has 318 followers and 100% feedback.
Sneakernews.com
Sneakernews.com provides much needed information about the everyday language in the Discourse. The language of a sneakerhead can be very difficult to understand. Terms vary and have different meaning when used in different sentences, so reading what sneakernews offers for guide to the language is very helpful. Sneakernews uses everyday language that is updated to the Discourse to write articles and blogs to keep you intact with the news and language. The website provides a guide known as “Sneakerhead Magazine”, which shows the lastest language trends and colorways one must know. Sneakernews also provides sellers information on Nike such as when “Nike held an investor’s meeting, which featured CEO Mark Parker divulging a lot of information regarding future plans, revenue goals, and other tidbits of info that further establishes Nike as one of the most successful companies of all-time”(sneakernews.com). The website is mostly just for significance and knowledge.
Conclusion
In the end, the Discourse can be obtained by using these two websites as well as forming the apprenticeships. Following Fiona’s seven building task necessary to joining the discourse will allow you to have easy access to entering the community. The websites will take you through the steps and provide you information that is needed to be a master of the Discourse. Once you successfully fulfill your apprenticeship, the connections will lead you to a successful collection and selling valuable shoes. Mastering the language through the websites and reading articles pertaining the Discourse will prevent you from failing in the Discourse. After following the steps and tasks needed, you will ultimately be a Sneakerhead.
Work-Cited
Fiano, Darcy A. “Primary Discourse and Expressive Oral Language in a Kindergarten Student.” Reading Research Quarterly 49.1 (2014): 61–84. Print.
Gee, James P. “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction” Journal of Education 171. 1 afch d(1989): 5–17. Print.
Antisneakerhead., comp. Kicksonfire.com. Nike, 24 October 2015. Web. 25 October 2015.
Kim, John., Comp. Sneakernews.com. Nike. 14 October 2015. Web. 25 October 2015.
